1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for generating a photograph image in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of electronic devices, including smartphones, have emerged recently. These electronic devices are typically equipped with cameras, with many having both front and rear cameras. These devices thus far have not taken full advantage of this feature.
The electronic device has image sensors on the front and back to convert received light to a digital signal. In a preview mode, digital signals output from the image sensors are displayed in a display area of the electronic device as preview images. The electronic device may operate in single-preview mode or multi-preview mode. In single-preview mode, a preview image obtained from a single image sensor is displayed. In multi-preview mode, preview images obtained from both image sensors can be displayed in Picture-In-Picture (PIP) form, for example. This can be further explained with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates how to display preview images in multi-preview mode. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a preview image obtained from a single image sensor (not shown) is displayed in a first preview area 110, e.g., the entire display area, and another preview image obtained from another image sensor 122 is displayed in a second preview area 120, e.g., a partial display area. An electronic device equipped with two or more cameras, which may be in multi-preview mode, needs to switch to a single-preview mode in order to capture a second preview image. For the change to the single-preview mode, the electronic device requires the user to make multi-phase menu selections.